Paranormal Factor
by Sable Scribe
Summary: Kagome and Souta Higurashi have been on hard times. This has caused them to seek out several Paranormal agencies. Shibuya Paranormal Research is there first stop, it will be the chance of a life time and neither of them are look back.
1. Higurashis' and the Yoyogi Ghost

I don't own Ghost Hunt or Inu Yasha, they belong to Fuyumi Ono and Rumiko Takahashi.

Beta: Romantic Princess

Thank you dear!

Chapter 1

Higurashis' and the Yoyogi Ghost

Mai frowned it wasn't fair when she asked Naru to do something it wasn't worth the effort, but when Masako asked for a favor. The SAME favor, Mai herself had asked just moments before it was alright? That really didn't seem all that far, not only that but from his point of view the cause wasn't interesting, nor was it profitable.

For the last ten minutes she'd had to listen to Masako beg a favor to check out a park that had recently begun to have odd and strange happening, specifically toward couples. Large amounts of water would be dumped upon those that seemed to have a happy relationship with each other. Not only that but because of this strange occurrence it was delaying a movie that was shooting in the park.

While Masako continued her wheedling, Naru finally said yes. Shortly thereafter Masako had left and Naru had gone back in to his bat cave. It just wasn't right! She had seen it on his face, Naru had not wanted to go on the case… so what exactly did Masako have on him?

Huffing she went back to her filing, considering she seemed to be on an auto pilots of sorts. A small chiming went off as the front door swing open, frowning slightly Mai looked over the dates and appointments, no one was due today and it wasn't often that they had walk ins? Not only that, but anyone from the team always called ahead so they could bother Naru, so who could this be?

O

Kagome hummed lightly as she dragged her younger sibling toward SPR, it wasn't too surprising both of them had a mass of a holy energy running through their veins and it would be easier to train her darling Souta in a safer environment than, her own bad experiences with ghosts and the occasional demon when she was in training.

"Kagome, why are you so determined to get a job at SPR?" Souta pouted, he loved his older sister, but now nearly a month after his 16th birthday he was showing signs of having just as much spiritual energy as she did. During the last two years he'd spent a lot of time learning to control his abilities with the monks in Koya, it was only now that Kagome was willing to take him with her to some of her "jobs".

"Because you need to get more experience in a controlled environment, and the shrine needs the extra income, since… Jiji and Okaa-chan passed away." Kagome almost cringed things had gone from bad to worse in her opinion, she was doing exorcisms on her own, to cover all the bills the shrine racked up a month, what was left was spent on sending Souta to school and food.

Souta sighed, he knew the only reason the shrine hadn't been sold off was because Kagome had managed to get the shrine out of debt by working at the shrine and taking on multiple jobs from the part-time to fulltime. She kept everything running smoothly, the shrine was going to start making money again in a year or two, but there was no telling how he was going to afford College. Sliding he glanced at his sister, he almost let out his frustration, life was really starting to take its toll on Kagome. "Does that mean you won't have to take on so many jobs?" He asked quietly.

She snorted in amusement, Souta had been training at a Buddhist Temple to help control and mold his energies, now it was time for him to get some field experience. "It really depends Souta… it really depends."

Shaking her head lightly she looked at the building, it was a relatively modern building with it's interesting plan and angles, moving up the steps she opened the door and smiled reflexively when a mass of chimes went off. Looking about the office Kagome could only approve of the business like interior, "Ah, hello, I'm here to speak with Shibuya-san, I spoke with him over the phone a few days ago. Is he free?"

Souta frowned at his sister as he followed into the building, looking around her, his jaw almost dropped. Mai Taniyama? What was she doing here! He'd heard that she'd gotten a job with a psychic research center but here? He would never hear the end of it.

Mai blinked, as she continued to stare at the door and the people just coming inside, one was a young woman that was a bit taller that herself. Her hair was long and thick a deep black that almost seemed blue, but the woman's eyes were a startling blue much like Naru's or John's, but hers were deeper they seemed to have a warmth that Naru's lack and John's always seemed to have. Just behind her was someone she hadn't seen in over a two years! The boy was a good bit taller than his sister, more than likely Naru's height, he shared the same rich hair, but his azure eyes seemed to hold a good bit of mischief and cheer. "Souta what…what are you doing here?" She was stunned.

A wide grin slide across his face as her looked down upon the cinnamon girl, as he liked to call her. Those reddish brown locks and spicy personality of hers was certainly like the herb, he nearly laughed at his sister's expression she was surprised and amused, score one for him! "Ahh, my sister wanted to speak with Shibuya-san, Mai this is my sister Kagome Higurashi, Kagome… this is Mai Taniyama." Avoiding Mai's questions was a fun game… that she still hadn't figured out.

Mai blinked in surprise, "Ah, it's nice to meet you. Let me get Naru." Mai quickly scurried into Naru's office a massive blush running over her face. What the heck! She'd just stood there like an idiot! Naru was going to kill her, so much for first good impressions. Looking up Mai gulped, that wasn't a happy face… Why had she decided to come to work today?

Kagome finally giggled while the younger girl went into one of the back offices, "Mah, mah Souta, she's cute were ever did you find her?"

Souta groaned as his face began to light up in a bright red tone, why did she say things like that? Moving he settled himself on one of the couches leaning back he closed his eyes while waiting. Only opening them when he felt the cushion next to him compress "I met Mai about three years ago at school, she came around the shrine a lot until I started my training at Koya… you were usually at college and then I moved and I guess she just didn't show up? "

"Ahhh, I thought I'd seen her some were before. I think she's bought charms and such at the shrine before… but she hasn't in the last while… two of her friends continue to show up, Keiko and Michiru I think?" She replied easily, it was rather amusing to see so many teenagers in need of luck or romantic help. While she wrote them and embedded them with her power what happened was still really up to them.

A smile smiled flittered across his face in amusement "That would be them… " Souta tried not to chuckled before one of the office doors opened.

"May I help you?" Lin finally asked listening to the two of them chatter outside his door was a bit disconcerting considering that he couldn't put a face to the mass of energy that seemed to pulse from the sitting area. To walk into the area and realize that the pulsing was coming from both of them, that the energy was simply on the same wave length was amazing to a point.

"Ahh, we were waiting on Mai," Souta replied interested in the energy the man was putting off, it was really subtle. So what was it exactly? Glancing at his sister he waited, giving her a look to explain.

A small smile seemed to light across the young woman's face before the other office opened revealing Mai and Shibuya-san. It was entertaining at least to Kagome to see the flush run across the young woman's face while her boss seemed to share some of her own features such a blue eyes and dark black hair. Getting up, Kagome bowed lightly while her brother copied this movement. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you Shibuya-san"

Naru stared at the young woman he'd invited Kagome there because he'd heard about her from his father. There was a possibility that she would be more helpful than Ayako, and he knew that Buddhist chants gained power with more followers. "I'm looking for more members to join us in cases."

Kagome eyed the boy for he was a boy maybe a year or two older than Souta, he seemed like a prodigy but there was also a sorrow inside the boy. She had to wonder over it… "I don't mind in the least, but I do ask that my brother be allowed to come. He needs field experience." She replied calmly, a slightly calculating look on her face.

"No way! Souta is Psychic?" Mai asked a very surprised look on her face. Mai blinked when four sets of eyes turned to look at her, they varied between silent laughter, amusement, and annoyance. Had she just said that out loud? Mai blushed slightly before rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, "Sorry." Mai mumbled, before things turned back to the discussion at hand.

"Is he trained?" Naru asked, he didn't want to be responsible if things went wrong. It wasn't uncommon for young Psychic's to go on small missions like this one to gain some experience, before being sent on more questionable or dangerous cases.

"I've been at Mount Koya, for the last two years training." Souta grinned, his eyes were closed while his lips turned upward in a very cat-like or fox-like smile. He could almost feel a bit of annoyance rise up in his chest, he wasn't sure if he wanted to shadow this guy. Naru was probably a year or two older than him, but he seemed to be a bit of a dick or maybe a rock? No that would be insulting to the rock.

Naru weighed the pros and cons, two years at Koya-san was nothing to laugh at, Souta would have the practical knowledge needed to help the team. While Souta was young he seemed rather responsible , at least in a practical sense most young boys wouldn't take the time or effort that was required when training in the spiritual arts. "That is fine, I will not be responsible for any damage that may occur while at a job sight." Naru finally stated, calmly.

Kagome nearly snorted, nearly, but managed to contain herself. "That would be fine Shibuya-san." She smiled slightly, wondering what the first case would be. Glancing at her brother from the corner of her eye she sighed, he looked really peeved. But he would contain it, this was a well paying job! And she wasn't willing to back out of it.

"Very well, our first case will be at Yoyogi Park two days from now at 3PM." Naru stated, looking at the information he'd managed to gather.

Souta couldn't contain the surprise on his face, "What has occurred?" He liked the Yoyogi Park, while he didn't get to go there often the Meiji Shrine was connected to the Yoyogi National Gymnasium where the Summer Olympics were held in 1964.

"So far everything that has happened, occurred when couples were together. The top problem, a large gush of water covers the two. Nothing is seen, and there is no evidence of water balloons or a human cause." Naru finished, he really wasn't interested in the case. The only reason he was doing this was because of blackmail, he didn't feel comfortable with Masako knowing his secrets if he could remove her at this point he would.

Kagome and Souta looked at each other in surprise that was… odd was putting it nicely. Neither of them had heard of such a thing. The spirit in question would have to have extremely volatile emotions to be able to have become a poltergeist. "Ano…. how long has this been occurring?" Kagome asked, this had to be a recent death. It would have occurred for a longer period of time, spirits don't just suddenly snap or change like that, most took time to build that sort of ability.

"For the past five months." Naru replied eyeing her, with a small smirk.

"Would you like the information I gather?" Kagome asked, her eyes softening before a warm smile appeared upon her face.

"Hai." Naru nodded, before glancing at Mai "Mai, tea." He commanded before walking back to his office, his father had sent him a case study of the white which of a Dornoch Castle in Scotland and he was more than a little curious about the findings.

Lin sighed, it looked like there were going to be more members of this team. He had to wonder why the Higurashi siblings had been pulled into this job. Naru would never admit it, but he had a softer heart than one who normally studied in this field, except perhaps some of the American researches he'd meet.

"We'll see you in two days Cinnamon Girl." Souta grinned, almost snickering when a bright blush seemed to appear on her cheeks. The two siblings waved, before leaving the small chiming of the door the only sound left as they made their way home.

Mai sighed, eyeing Lin curiously he normally didn't leave his office unless it was to record a case or to run errands. "Lin will you be going to the park?" She asked and nearly squeaked, when those intense gray eyes of his turned to stare. Mai could almost feel the sweat running down her back, vaguely wondering if this was how a mouse felt in front of a cat.

"Hai." Lin replied before turning away, to return to his own little bat cave. It was a good bit smaller than Naru's plush office, with a large desk, a number of files and a small mountain of cases that had yet to be typed up piled on top of it including two separate computers, which both had external hard drives just in case.

Mai felt a shiver drop down her spine this was going to be along mission, at least that's how she felt about it. Huffing lightly, she moved to the kitchenette to begin working on the tea.

O

Kagome smiled warmly as she and her brother walked toward the Yoyogi Park, it was large overlapping or connecting with the Meiji Shrine grounds which covered around 170 acres maybe a bit more. "So what are you thinking about Souta?" Kagome asked enjoying the sun. It had become a bit chilly recently she herself was snuggled down in a simple, but warm blue sweater with dark wash blue jeans, her long hair was pulled back from her face into a tight French braid small wisps curled around her cheeks. It wasn't often that she got to step out of her chihaya, and wear civilian type clothes, Kagome thought it would be a nice experience.

"Nothing it's a bit odd, I mean nothing happened like this before I went to Koya-san." He muttered looking around, he wore what he usually did simple jeans, a graphic t-shirt and a leather bomber jacket. They were walking through one of the many walkways, surrounded by a number of different evergreens, nicely placed benches, water features and a number of open green areas great for Hanami.

Kagome just mmed lightly before finally finding what she was looking for, "Shibuya-san, Lin-san. Mai." Kagome nodded to each of them pleased, it was really a nice day and she had to wonder how this was going to end up. Souta on the other hand simply nodded to the two men before sending Mai a cheeky smile.

Mai waved happily while three others looked over the new comers. "Souta, Kagome! Ah… um…. let me introduce you!" She stated cheerily. "This is Masako Hara she works in show business as a Psychic Medium." Mai waved her hand in Masako's direction while the girl looked on, a slightly curious expression on her face.

Masako was a small, pretty girl with a short chin length hair, her eyes on the other hand were a light gray blue shade. Masako always wore a Kimono no matter the circumstances, today's kimono had three layers, the undergarment layer was a simple white, the middle layer was a light blue, while the outside garment was a very dark blue with light blue, and purple nadesico flowers embroidered on it. She waved at the two, a bit more than curious when did Naru need new helpers?

"This is Houshou Takigawa and John Brown." Mai first waved toward the taller blonde, before her hand moved toward the smaller blonde. The older man was tall, and had dirty blonde hair and had light brown eyes he was currently wearing a simple jacket that was a dark red with black piping while his pants where blue jeans. The smaller blonde was about the same height as Kagome, with bright yellow blonde hair, and big blue eyes, he reminded some of an all American boy, until he opened his mouth and spoke with an Osaka dialect. Both men smiled in greeting, "Guys this is Kagome and Souta Higurashi. They'll probably be working with us from now on, right Naru?" Mai grinned.

"Consider this a probationary case Mai." Naru replied, before turning once again to his book. He honestly didn't want to be here, and if it was up to him he wouldn't be. Sometimes you had to make others happy for a little funding, this happened to be one of them.

Mai huffed lightly, geez why did he have to act like that!

"Wait, Takigawa, are you related to Takeshi Takigawa?" Souta asked, he even looked like Takeshi-sensei!

"Yeah?" Houshou was a bit more than confused, "He's my father… "

"Hahahah!" Souta snorted with laughter as the others stared him down. "I've been at Koya-san for the last two years, Takeshi-sensei was my mentor." A smile grin ran across his face.

Houshou blinked in surprise before nodding he was going to ask his father about Souta Higurashi and see what he had to say, the considering look changed to a more disturbed look came over his face " Soo, this is the park? Are you sure there are any spirits here? Hey, Masako feeling anything?" He questioned, curious.

"Yes, something but nothing harmful." Masako responded, her eyes closed before they opened to look toward the others.

"So how do we want to do this, in all the cases reported there were couples present and they were the ones targeted…"Kagome trialed off, in her own thoughts. She'd been trying to look up the woman's name, but there was no file or information on a case. And she hadn't had the time to look through the newspapers.

Several sets of eyes turned to look at the dark haired woman as she seemed to be absorbed in thinking, Masako nearly smiled this would work perfectly "Well, it's simple really. We just need a decoy. All we have to do is break off into couples."

Kagome snorted, as she watched the pairs split up, Souta really was there just to be an extra sensory, he could sense spirits as good as just about any exorcist. Masako paired off with Naru, who seemed annoyed, while Mai and Houshou were together as well. Kagome glanced at her partner; it was awkward she knew next to nothing about Lin.

"Hmm, Lin-san?" Kagome asked slowly, her eyes wondering as she watched her brother circle around the couples sitting at different areas around the park.

"Hai, Higurashi-san?" Lin glanced at the woman sitting next to him, she was pretty if not on the short side, but then again most of the population was well below his 6 foot 4 inch frame.

"Do you enjoy working for SPR? Does… does Shibuya-san treat you well?" Kagome felt hesitant to ask, she gnawed on her lip. As a single woman trying to raise a growing teenager it was hard for her to find a "safe job", one that wouldn't get her killed, or in some cases molested. "I mean what… what will he expect?" The worry in her voice was more evident than she knew.

Lin set his computer aside to study the younger woman; normally he would have shrugged the worries off. He had no need to set her concerns aside, but she was… scared, more so than one who was just looking at a full time job. "This job is manageable, Naru spends most of his time researching and looking for interesting cases. Mai files, while I input most of our cases, and notes. Most everyone else is only called on for an exorcism," Lin answered shortly.

Kagome sighed, she wouldn't admit it but she was more than a little relieved. "Ahh," Kagome blushed, it was a bit of an embarrassing thing to ask. Twitching again, she surveyed the area it was interesting to see the differences in couples, Mai and Takigawa were teasing each other, but seemed to be having a good time. While Naru on the other hand was studying some sort of paranormal research material that seemed to be in English, she really didn't know what to do. Lin had already returned to his computer, "Ne, do… so do you mind if I see?" Kagome asked.

Lin was slightly startled it was rare that someone was interested in the case files or what he was working on. "I suppose, why are you interested?" He had to admit he was slightly curious.

"Oh… well, when Souta was away for the last two years, I took on a lot of cases myself. It brought good revenue to the shrine, though there were a number of drawl backs. It was extremely tiring because I would take a number of cases a month, I was working alone which is more than dangerous, and my filing and information system was a mess." Kagome sighed, she knew she probably had wrinkles from worrying.

Lin blinked in surprise working by yourself was almost suicidal in this industry the fact that she'd done if for so long, was quiet impressive. "I see." Both settled down, it had been nearly an hour since that short conversation. Kagome had gotten so sleepy she'd dosed off, and when her body shifted to settle against Lin's side, he did his utmost best to ignore the sensation and the thoughts, to focus on his computer… there were so many cases that had yet to be typed up, but that could also be because of Naru's horrible writing.

Kagome was startled awake; a loud cry of displeasure could be heard rippling across the park. Both Mai and the Monk were soaked in water, caused by the ghost. Hara-san was now on her knees not far from them with an interesting look upon her face, it was a bit blank before another more depressing aura seemed to surround the younger girl.

Lin sighed, before putting away his wireless. Getting up, he easily walked forward as did Mai and the Houshou., Kagome followed him more than a little curious. As they moved closer to make a small semi-circle around Hara, before she suddenly began to speak "I'mmm so happy to see your misfortune!" It was an odd thing to hear coming out of the mediums cultured mouth.

Kagome couldn't help herself, she began to giggle in her mirth. Her brother had just returned after feeling the spirit, and could only gape at the sight in front of them all. Mai on the other hand was more than a bit freaked out, if the expression on her face was anything to go by. The rest of the group seemed pretty much unfazed by the sudden possession.

"Wha…?" Mai finally managed to push out of her mouth.

"She's been possessed Mai." Souta responded eyeing Masako with something akin to distaste. If she was really such a celebrated Medium she wouldn't have been possessed so easily. It honestly annoyed him, he wouldn't say anything but he would think about it a lot.

"Hmm, this will be a perfect opportunity to see what she has to say. Are you the one who has been pouring water over the couples here?" Naru asked, a focused expression on his face. This had gone faster than he had expected all things considered.

"Hohohohohoho!" Masako laughed, or the female ghost laughed a hand covering part of her mouth before responding properly "Yes! I hoped that they would get a cold or Bronchitis and suffer for it." She was smiling cheerfully while inside someone else's body.

A lone thin brow slipped upward, "Why would you like to do that?" Houshou asked, it was admittedly a bit morbid for him to know. Considering there was a dead chick dancing about being theatrical in the prim and proper Masako's body. But he was indeed curious.

"Ooooh!" Came out sounding just a bit feral and frustrated, "They make me sick!" She yelled, clearly upset, "They flirt and… and it just makes me sick the more that they flirt, when I'm suffering so much." The mood once again changed as Masako began to produce an over abundance of tears, while her eyes became glassy and unfocused.

Mai sweatdropped if there was a spotlight in the park it would be glued to this ghost and it was a weird one if she did say so herself. "Ah, would you mind telling us why you're in so much pain?" Mai asked, before jumping back a bit to bump into Houshou who steadied her. Masako had spun around to face Mai, those large creepy tears still running down her face, a large smile suddenly on her face.

"Hohohohohohohoh!" Masako's hand was once again in front of her mouth as an extremely strange and slightly villianish laugh rippled from her lips. "If… if you want me to, I'll tell you! My boyfriend broke up with me, so I killed myself. So go ahead and laugh!"

Nothing was heard, save the crickets and buzzing of bees, it was disturbingly quiet. Until Masako's body once more turned away from the group, some of them slightly gawking, the others blank faces on. "We first met here at the park. It was a fateful meeting, I dropped something and he returned it to me. We would meet here often when we were together and people were so very jealous. I bumped into him one day while I was returning home, and he was with another girl! How… how dare he! With another woman! That was six months ago." The spirit finally finished her story, Masako's body moved with the emotions of the spirit and is looked very much like a TV drama.

"So why do you pour water on people?" Naru asked, they now knew why she was at the park, but not why she was dumping water on top of people.

"Waaaah!" The spirit let out a long depressed wail, "I confronted him, and then he poured water over my head and told me that he was disgusted by me. And the little tramp that was with him just laughed it off, and said it was 'A good one.'"

"What! That jerk! That totally sucks!" Mai yelled, her aura was fluctuating wildly.

Kagome blinked at the outrage, Mai was a bit like an extremely bright bug lamp. And all the little buglets fluttered toward her, trying not to giggle. Glancing at Lin, she leaned toward the taller man, "Ne, Lin can you see a persons' aura?" Kagome asked quietly trying to drown out the rest of the drama without.

Lin glanced downward, before nodding he had to wonder why she was asking. "Why do you ask Higurashi-san?" What did that have to do with the case?

"I was wondering, because Mai has a strange one… " Kagome gnawed on her bottom lip, as her eyes turned back toward the others, they were trying to convince the spirit to move on without an exorcism.

Lin followed her eyes, he could see what she was saying about Mai. The girl's aura flared with power, but she didn't leak power like Higurashi or the monk did. He sighed as the spirit finally left the body, this was really a waste of time the only thing that had been vaguely entertaining was watching Masako act a fool. Now she was simply on the ground, her kimono becoming stained looking disoriented and confused.

Kagome sighed, before shaking her head "Ah Shibuya-san may Souta and I leave? There really isn't a point for us to stay." The siblings looked at each other, the faster they left the faster they could get to their next destination. The two of them had to get back to the shrine and get everything put away for the next day. This was going to be an interesting life, but the two of them would enjoy it. She was certainly going to enjoy the next case she would work with them.

O

An: I know nothing little about Tokyo, as such I'm using one of the parks I know about that resides in Shibuya.I also know very little about the Monks of Koyasan or Esoteric Buddhism(If I'm getting any of this information wrong please feel free to correct me.)

For those of you wondering a Chihaya is the traditional grab of a Shinto Priestess. The Hakama or the pants are generally red, while the top known as a Kosode is almost always white. Some priestesses decided to take on a different color, such as green or blue (though this is a bit abnormal.)

Hanami is a flower watching festival which can be Ume (Plum Blossoms) or Sakura (Cherry Blossoms.) These flowers can be seen from mid January to early May.

On another note, yes I know I told a number of you I would be posting chapters for Right to Rule and Rebirth. But this story would not leave me alone, but I plan to have RTR up as soon as possible.


	2. Yuasa's Curse

I don't own Ghost Hunt or Inu Yasha, they belong to Fuyumi Ono and Rumiko Takahashi, respectively.

Beta: Romantic Princess

Thank you!

**AN: I want to let everyone know that until school lets out again, I shall be putting some of my stories on Hiatus. I'm giving everyone the ability to vote on what stories they want to have finished first. For more information or to vote please see my profile.**

**I would also like to ask that all of you review if possible, I find it hard to keep writing when I spend several hours on a chapter with no feedback I don't know what I'm doing right or wrong. I would like at least four to five reviews, I will not stop writing if I don't get the reviews, but it would make me feel better.**

Chapter 2

Mai nearly jumped out of her skin when the classroom door was opened quickly, before she finally caught her breath at seeing Kagome and her brother at the door. Both of them shared a glance before she waved Souta off to help Mai, "Shibuya-san, may I ask why I was called in?"

Kagome briefly glanced at the others around the room before a frown ran across her face, there weren't any spirits here in this place but there were indeed a number of dark energies running around the air. The oddest thing is that they were concentrated to anyone at this place.

Naru said nothing, simply pushed the file across the table to the older woman it held all the problems that had been caused by whatever it was that was going on at this particular school.

"Lin-san?"

"Hai, Higurashi-san?" Lin looked over at the woman, for the last several weeks since the park case the woman had been coming in and helping him type files. It had given him a lot more time to catch up on the things that had backed up while he'd been working with the case files.

"Is this it?" Kagome asked, walking toward the taller man before settling beside him.

"Gahaa! WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS SCHOOL!" Mai finally yelled frustrated and more than a little confused.

Souta frowned, "Mai stop yelling, that doesn't help at all."

Naru moved to see what Kagome was doing, both he and Lin seemed to pause as they looked at the separate piles that the woman had made.

"It's unusual isn't it? None of these are to very dangerous by themselves, but there are too many to be coincidental." Naru continued as he studied the path she was making, those that caused the greatest harm, or could cause the greatest harm to those that were simply miniscule.

"I do not believe this is caused by spirits, Shibuya-san." Kagome finally related, as she looked over what was spread before her.

Naru stared in surprise, "Why is that Higurashi?"

"Hmm, the energies here are a very different type of energy… almost living… but not. It's at the tip of my tongue, but I've felt something similar before." Kagome replied, she knew she looked befuddled and in truth to a certain degree she was.

"I see, I'll call in the others as well, will you stay and help Lin?" Naru asked, though it sounded much more like a command.

"Hai," Kagome turned away from her boss to focus on helping Lin get more research and all the cases and files typed up. Souta sighed before sitting down to help the two of them, he really had nothing else to do, and it seemed that even though Lin was extremely uneasy in their presence he did appreciate the help.

When Naru returned he was followed by four people, three of them the sibling knew they had meet them on other cases while the fourth. A red haired woman who wore a good amount of make up, they had never seen before.

"Probation eh? You know I think those two have been on more cases then me." Takigawa muttered staring at the two dark heads bent over one computer beside Lin.

"Ha… haa… that might be true but you wouldn't be willing to help with the paper work." John replied lightly an amused look on his face.

Mai grinned in amusement, "Hey, Souta you guys haven't met Ayako yet, right?"

"What does she do?" Souta finally looked up, they had found an interesting report about some of the shenanigans that had happened around this school before all the strange incidents.

"She's a miko." Mai replied.

"Really?" Kagome asked absent mindedly as she continued to look at the file on her screen, it wasn't a particularly loud remark but everyone in the room could hear it as if it was amplified to explode around the room in surround sound.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Ayako practically yelled frustrated.

"You aren't a true Miko, and you have no patron god, you don't serve a shrine… as such you would be less than a miko… I know every priest and priestess in Tokyo." Kagome replied calmly.

Ayako paused and stared in shock, slightly mortified to hear the snickering behind her. She could tell it was the monk and that bitch Masako, who did this woman think she was?

"Who do you think you are, to say things like that?" Ayako scowled.

Kagome glanced at Ayako before turning her entire focus on the woman, "I'm the Head Priestess of the Higurashi Shrine. I think I would know what I'm talking about… I would be removed if I was less than stellar."

At this point everyone was gaping in surprise, save the few who had known in advance. It went quiet for a few moments after that before Naru finally spoke up sending Masako and Ayako to go around the school to find spirits and sending John, Souta and Houshou after them to exercise.

It had been roughly twenty minutes since the others had been sent out when Mai yelped in surprise from the front room. Lin, Kagome and Naru looked at the other as they listened to what was happening in the other room.

"What are you doing?" A light female voice asked from behind them.

Mai could be heard sighing, "Geees you scared me!"

The other girl laughed softly, "Hey are those the cases from the school?"

"Yes, that's right." Mai nodded, slightly relieved it was just a girl.

The girl huffed, "Darn, I wonder what's going on at this school! Ghosts, curses, and supernatural powers!"

Naru nodded to the others before walking around the partition wall, "What do you mean supernatural powers?"

Both girls were startled by his sudden appearance before the girl finally spoke up, "Well the Kasai Panic…"

"Panic?" Mai asked frowning.

"Yeah, there's a senior in our school named Kasai Chiaki. She started bending spoons with her powers." The girl continued, "I think it was right after summer break that she started doing it. She became really famous at school for doing it. A lot of the teachers scorned her and started saying bad things about her and the school split in half some on the teacher's side some on Kasai's side. After a while there was an assembly and Kasai was forced to bend the spoon in front of the school. One of the teachers goes mad and gave her a key and dared her to bend it… and she did. The teacher in question got really angry and attacked her, so he had to be removed from the school. Before he was removed Kasai promised she would curse him, after that the strange things started to happen."

Kagome frowned as she listened before sending a text message to her brother asking him to go to the biology club. She could still hear them talking about it, and it would be better if Shibuya-san and Mai had someone who could actually use their abilities.

"What did you do?" Lin asked looking toward the younger woman. She'd sent a message and gotten one in return and she sometimes had to wonder about her.

"I asked Souta to meet Shibuya-san and Mai at the biology lab… he can't use his abilities can he?" Kagome responded, looking up at Lin with a strange type of understanding.

Lin sighed, "I see… it would probably be best," though he knew that Naru really wouldn't like it but he had to admit it would relieve his conscious a bit if he at least knew that someone would try to keep the teenager out of trouble.

Kagome chuckled, "I do have to wonder what the three of them will get into."

Lin snorted, before returning to his files.

O

"What are you doing here Souta?" Mai asked.

Souta rolled his eyes, "I'm here because Kagome told me to be… I think she's worried about you two."

Naru just sighed, frustrated with them both before opening the door to revile to very different people. One was a student the other a teacher, "Excuse us, but it Kasai-san here?" Naru finally asked surveying the area all the while.

The older woman looked toward them, she was wearing a long gray skirt and a yellow ribbed sweater "Can I help you?"

"I'm Shibuya from Shibuya Psychic Research, May I speak with Kasai-san?" Shibuya looked at the woman coolly there was something about her that seemed to rub him the wrong way.

"Ah, yes. Please come in I'm Kei Ubusuna. I'm a biology teacher here." Ubusuna looked over them as if trying to decide something with her strange smile. "I suppose you're here to talk about the incident in September?"

"Leave me alone! I'm not going to talk about it!" The girl who was facing the corner away from them replied her dark grey hair falling down below her shoulders.

"I suggest you speak with them so that they understand." The biology teacher responded kindly.

"No way, it's not like they're going to believe me anyway." She huffed frustrated and annoyed,

Souta snorted, "It's not like we're really just going to deny everything you have to say. We work in Psychic Research if we didn't have an open mind we would get anywhere now would we?" He was being an ass but this girl needed a wakeup call or to listen to what was going on around her.

Kasai blinked surprised, and annoyed before glaring back at them a frustrated look on her face, "What did you want to talk about?"

"I heard that you had something to do with the mysterious happenings at this school, I also heard a rumor that you could bend spoons… or keys in some cases." Naru stated calmly looking over the girl.

"I bet none of you believe that, there not just rumors they're true." Kasai replied coldly, a slightly mad light in her bright gray eyes.

"Pff. It's not like it's hard." Souta turned his nose up at the girl, he hated people with a cocky attitude… it drove him nuts.

All three of the women in the room looked at Souta as if he was insane, "You can?" Kasai asked, un-amused he sounded like he was mocking her.

Souta nodded, "I'm not fully trained or anything but I do know a lot about PK abilities."

Scowling Kasai grabbed a metal spoon resting in a coffee mug on the table next to her seat, holding it out she had a cold smirk on her face, "Prove it."

Souta rolled his eyes, "Are you okay with that Shibuya?"

"Will you pass out?" Naru responded just as calmly.

"Nah, I'll be sleepy for a little while though."

"Go ahead then." Naru waved him off, curious about Souta's ability. Kagome hadn't said anything about having PK.

Souta grinned, "Righto captain." Souta took the spoon from the girl but held it at the very bottom. The first thing that was visibly moved was the cradle of the spoon it suddenly went flat before it slowly began to roll down on itself until it looked like fruit roll up. "That better?" The question was asked almost in a sneering way.

Kasai was wide eyed when the rolled up spoon was simply dropped into her hand, and the boy Souta just yawned sleepily. "Hai… it started over the summer, I was watching a late night show and I saw someone bending a spoon. So I tried to imitate it. I was so surprised when the spoon bent."

Kasai sighed, before looking over Souta in a curious manner, "I certainly can't turn it into something like this anyway.

"Gellerini Phenomenon. Several years ago there were many people excited about the psychic world after seeing Uri Geller on television. There people were called the Gellerini." Ubusuna smiled beatifically.

"You're very knowledgeable." Naru commented studying the woman. He could tell by Souta's tensing that something she'd said had caught the younger boy's attention and made him uneasy. "Kasai-san can you still bend a spoon?" Naru asked

"I can!" Kasai seemed to cry, there was a spoon in her hand within minutes, one hand on the lower part the other seemed to be rubbing. Slowly she began to bend over the chair the closer she got the more tense Souta got, Naru simply nodded.

Souta suddenly grabbed her hands, "Don't do that! It's one of the reasons that the Gellerini were ruined, several of the children did this and it caused a lot of cruelty toward them. I don't know who taught you that, but it would get you into a lot of trouble and no one would take you seriously!" A look of anger seemed to cross his face, Souta really couldn't stand people who hurt others without cause lying and teaching them bad information was one of the top ways for it to occur.

"I know that trick as well… if Souta hadn't of stopped you I would have. Most of the Gellerini's power didn't last a long time, in order to hide this they used a number of tricks to lie to the public about their abilities. The public came to learn about it and they began to call them cheaters, that is one of the tricks the Gellerini used." Naru finished, he really believed that it was strange that Ubusuna-san knew so much about the Gellerini.

"But I have bent spoons before!" Kasai stared at them with disbelief.

"Yah… but it only takes one fuck up for all that built credibility to run down the drain." Souta was generally a crude person very few people knew it but he was this was one of those times it came out.

Naru stared, slightly amused and baffled by the younger Higurashi sibling. Trying not to chuckle he continued were Souta had abruptly left off, "Any researcher know that the Gellerini phenomenon is unpredictable. If you can't do it, you should go ahead and admit it. If someone was still in disbelief then they probably didn't believe you in the first place."

Ubusuna finally spoke up, "I taught that to her, the other teachers wouldn't believe her and she was often put into positions that she was forced to bend spoon to give proof that she had power."

"And that has nothing to do with you. If she had such a problem with her teachers she could have complained to the school board. Instead you chose to put her credibility at stake, what would have happened if one of those teachers figured out that little trick? Kasai-san would more than likely be kicked out of the school. One for causing such a ruckus in the first place and the second because everyone would then believe she was lying. PK can come and go, often times the more stressed out a person it the less likely it becomes that they can perform." By the time Souta was finished he was sending Ubusuna a venomous glare, that Mai thought might just melt the woman into a puddle of blood.

"That's enough Souta. Kasai-san is that why you made that comment toward your teacher at assembly?" Naru asked coolly.

"What? No, I was just so frustrated. They kept coming at me from all sides and it just came out… I doubt I could actually curse anyone to death." Kasai snorted.

Naru's eyes narrowed again, "Is that so? Either way thank you for your time, Souta, Mai. Let's go."

As the three of them walked back toward their camp they continued to hear Souta yawning more and more. "Souta… are you suppose to use your spoon bending ability?" Mai asked staring up at her friend.

Souta rolled his eyes, "It's not about suppose or not suppose to, it's about control and practice. I haven't done anything like that in a long time… so I'm really tired, I shouldn't have done it though… you always waste more energy when you're mad… just don't tell Kagome. I don't want a lecture please?"

Naru chuckled, "I don't believe I would like to hear a lecture from Higurashi-san again either."

Mai gaped, "What! When did Kagome give you a lecture?"

Souta snickered, "We went on a case with him to a cursed sight, Kagome promptly asked him what he was thinking coming without Lin. When she was done she dragged him back to Lin and let Lin yell at him some… the fact that those two can tag team is terrifying."

"Thank you for telling that particularly stimulating tale." Naru stated coolly before opening the door.

Once the three of them were settled inside the room again, they could only wait for the others to arrive. Though they did on occasion hear Kagome grumbling about a certain file, or Lin's snort of amusement…

Masako sighed, as she stood still very much like a statue, "There aren't any spirits here."

"That's not possibly Masako!" Takigawa stated, a frown on his face.

"I have searched every single place in this school and there is nothing here that indicates a spirit," Masako finished cooly.

"I believe this supports my theory." Kagome mumbled, "Shibuya-san… I would like to see the desk were the first large incident took place… I think… I might know what this is."

Naru turned his eyes narrowed, "Hai."

"Lin-san will you come with me, you as well Shibuya-san…. I don't know enough about this particular part of the supernatural." Kagome's eyes were closed and she seemed more tired than before.

"What do you think it is onee-san?" Souta asked, slightly worried.

Kagome's eyes opened and narrowed, "A curse, or several curses… depending what we find at the desk, which people claim is the first odd incident… will show what kind of curse and how it came to be. Like I said curses and magic aren't my expertise…"

Lin nodded, "Let's see Higurashi-san." The two of them left the room, it didn't take long before Naru followed quickly. Several members of his crew were bickering and he certainly didn't want to listen to them bitch, sometimes he had to wonder how they had managed to solve so many problems… that was the nice thing about the Higurashi's even if they disliked something they would never say it.

"Lin-san!" Kagome yelped, before she was quickly pulled back from the door she was about to open. Lin had already pulled the much smaller woman behind him, he was more than a little disturbed.

Naru found himself hurrying his pace to see something bizarre, above the classroom they were about to enter was a strange spectral creature. It looked human and seemed to be wearing something akin to and old priest's grab and its face was misshapen the nose was long and thin, and there was a scythe in its hand and a cruel grin on it's face.

Lin whistled, his shiki promptly began to drive back the creature it didn't take long for it to seep into the floor. He could feel Kagome shaking behind him and she was clutching the back of his shirt, "Higurashi…" He heard her take a very deep breath, before forcing herself to let go of his clothing. When she was once again beside him instead of in front of him he could easily see that she was about as white as Alabaster… and he found himself wondering at the paleness.

"Tengu… there is no way someone at this school has the spiritual energy or magic to control Tengu." She stated firmly, "Someone knows my name…"

Lin studied her, before simply opening the door, "It's the desk in the corner, Higurashi-san."

"Hai." Kagome moved quickly, her pace was steady and she seemed calmer. But upon closer inspection they could easily see that her hands were shaking violently.

"Higurashi-san, why are you so startled by this?" Naru asked cool, watching with a detached eye as she looked over the desk.

"Shibuya-san… someone would have to have a very thorough knowledge of my family and my back ground to be able to terrify me with that. Before my father was killed, supposedly he saw a tengu before his death… right before he was shipped off to war." Kagome continued her search running her hands on the inside, "Souta wouldn't have known… only someone who had read grandfathers writing would know that… ah!" Pulling out something that looked like an oddly shaped wooden figure. Kagome could only blink when Lin took it from her, "Zuso."

"With Enmi… this could take a very long time for us to fix. This would mean there are several curses in place… tell everyone to call it a day… the only way we're going to find the Jusa and the rest of the Enmi are if we start earlier in the day tomorrow." Naru sighed.

"One has been cast on you Higurashi… what will you do?" Lin asked calmly.

Kagome stared up at the man next to her, "Souta can ward it off with chants and I can use sutras… once we're home we should be safe… the Shrine is heavily warded."

They watched Naru go, he was more than likely going to explain the situation to the others and that work was over for the day. "Higurashi-san… if something happens feel free to call Naru or myself."

Lin watched as her eyes softened, "Thank you, Lin-san." He nodded, before walking with her back toward the room that the school had given them to work out of. By the time they were arrived, there were only three people left in the room Mai, Souta and Naru.

"Mai, Souta let's go." Kagome smiled lightly.

Mai pouted, before nodded while Souta grabbed their things. They quickly said good bye before the three of them left, both Naru and Lin watched them go before piling into Lin's car to drive home.

O

O

Kagome frowned, she could hear shouting even out in the hall way opening the door she could see a three way argument involving Mai, Naru and the 'Miko' Ayako. "You do know that school is still in session correct?"

The three paused to look at her as if to asked what her point way, "I can hear both Mai and Ayako all the way down the hall… I'm sure the teachers wanted me to express their displeasure no matter the fact that you're ruining what's left of Kasai-san's reputation."

Mai blushed, while Ayako huffed angry and frustrated, "What do you think Kagome?"

"I think you're an idiot… Kasai can't even bend a spoon… how would you expect her to have the knowledge of Zuso?" Kagome replied dryly, she could hear Lin snorting in amusement from behind the partition wall. "She's what… 15 or 16… if anything Mai has more knowledge about Zuso then that chit does… use common sense… I realize you have a massive brain, but please grow some common sense."

"Then what about the fact that you and I have been targeted?" Naru asked, coldly he didn't like that she was implying he was an idiot.

"Mai." Kagome replied easily, "Lin how much do we have left to put in the computer?"

"I finished an hour ago." Was Lin's short, and to the point, response.

"Ah." Kagome nodded.

"What do you mean Mai?" Ayako frowned.

Kagome turned to stare at Mai as if to apologize, "Gomen Mai… but this is for your own good. Several times Kasai-san came into this room and the two of them spoke about several members of SPR… I have no doubt in my mind that Kasai-san spoke with Ubusuna-san…" Kagome replied.

Ayako frowned, "Why are you so put off by Ubusuna-san?"

"Souta has very good instincts… and very few people know about the Gellerini incident here in Japan." Kagome replied, "It was close to twenty years ago and was just as violently hidden after the press began to attack the child of Uzuki Kaido… a high ranking politician at the time."

Ayako nodded, "Ah… that would make more sense about your suspicion… what about your disbelief that Kasai could do it?"

Lin snorted, "I believe I can answer that, she's about as trained as Mai is."

Everyone looked toward the partition wall in shock, none of them had expected to hear Lin speak up. "Exactly," Kagome grinned as if her master plan had been complete "That and puberty is settling in… her abilities are all over the place."

"Then why is Naru getting attacked?" Ayako frowned, frustrated.

Mai sighed, "What if the Jusa just thinks that Naru is in the way?"

"Then he would put one on every member of this group." Naru replied duly.

"I see… but Zuso is Onmyou-do, right? So an Onmyou-ji could fix it right?" Mai asked frustrated.

Takigawa finally broke in "What does that have to do with anything?"

'Well Naru… you're an Onmyou-ji right?" Mai asked.

"Mai… what in the world would make you think that? Shibuya is about as Chinese as Brown-san is." Kagome looked aghast at the thought.

"What?" Mai looked completely befuddled.

Kagome sighed, "An Onmyou-ji is something akin to a Chinese sorcerer… they have a focus on magic and they do NOT teach it to outsiders! Something like Hitogata are also present in Japanese magic and even the Buddhist and Shinto teachings."

"Oh… but you used a Hitogata on one of our former cases, and Monk said you could only do that if you're Onmyou-ji." Mai blushed violently.

"Lin made that." Naru sighed rubbing his face in slight frustration.

"Lin is an Onmyou-ji?" Mai look confused.

Kagome promptly left the two to continue the ridiculous conversation… "I swear she is completely clueless!"

Lin looked over at Kagome, he'd been surprised at her comments about Onmyou-ji… there had been no derision and little anger just frustration with Mai's ignorance. "Does it bother you that I'm Onmyou-ji?"

Kagome blinked in surprise, "Iie… besides your shiki are cute." She replied easily, her arms were folded together on the table and her head was resting on them and he could see an easy warm smile on her lips as she looked up at him.

Lin felt his cheeks heat a bit with embarrassment, he'd never met someone would could see his shiki let alone who thought they were cute. "Ah…"

"Do you dislike me because I'm a priestess?" Kagome asked, "Or because I'm Japanese?"

Lin shook his head, "I do not dislike you… but you cause me to feel conflicted."

Kagome pouted, "How so?"

"I want to like you more than I want to dislike you." Lin responded, a small look of annoyance on his face for whatever reason she and her little brother has struck a soft spot in him that seemed to over ride his dislike of the Japanese, even Mai and her silliness had found a way into his heart.

Kagome grinned, "Neeh… you have to call me Kagome then."

Lin stared at her, "Why?"

"We've worked with each other rather closely for almost three months. I would prefer to be called Kagome, Higurashi-san makes me sad…." Kagome's eyes seemed to dance with amusement.

"We will see." Lin's eyes widened, before he stood "Naru is in trouble."

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked, a worried look on her face.

Lin shook his head before taking off, Kagome followed at a slightly slower pace. There was a construction site ahead of them, as they crossed they eventually came across a manhole cover. When the two of them looked down it was easy to see that both Naru and Mai were stuck down there, it didn't take Kagome or Lin long to get things necessary to get the two of them out. Though after hearing what happened Kagome did give Mai the longest scolding, Lin thought that he had ever personally seen in his lifetime and Mai looked properly chastised.

Once they returned to the room they were rewarded with close to thirty Hitogata's made for everyone or almost everyone who'd wronged Kasai in the school.

Takigawa huffed, "Wow… that's an impressive number of Hitogawa.."

"Mine… and Yoshino-sensei's were found in the manhole…" Mai frowned, before blushing at Ayako's comment that she should stop falling into holes.

John looked over the things, "This should stop it correct?"

"Yes. All we need to do know is burn them or throw them in a river." Naru replied.

"Or both," Souta replied several members stared at him in surprise, "What? Nothing could be done with them then."

John and Takigawa continued to talk about the Jusa while Ayako went about seeing to Naru's wounds. When she began to ask him more questions, and he didn't respond, she finally asked if he was feeling well… he promptly fell out of his seat. Luckily he didn't eat the floor thanks to Lin's quick actions of catching him.

"Don't move him, I'll call an ambulance." Ayako took off.

"At least she's a doctor…" Kagome sighed watching her go. Bending down next to the boy, she checked his temperature while Lin looked for a proper pulse. "Lin…you can go with him to the hospital… I can bring your car."

"Hai. Thank you." Lin nodded, as the two of them watched Naru being loaded onto a stretcher.

"Takigawa and I will make sure that the Hitogata are properly disposed off." Kagome replied, taking the keys from Lin's outstretched hand.

"Alright let's go." Kagome sighed, as her brother and Takigawa came with her to correctly burn the items while Mai, and Ayako went ahead to meet with Naru at the hospital.

Takigawa grinned as he watched the ashes run down the river, "Man… I'm glad this is over with."

"Me too… I think I prefer ghosts." Souta sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

Kagome snorted, "Stop complaining come on… get in the car let's go…"

Both males pouted, Takigawa wanted to drive Lin awesome car and Kagome wouldn't let him, Souta wanted Takigawa to drive Lin's car because he was positive the older man would make it a fun experience. Sadly she shot both ideas down.

"I'll stay with Lin, you two shoo." Kagome waved them away when she stayed to give the dark haired man his keys. "You will not believe how pathetic those two are when in contact with a pretty car.

Lin simply sent her a blank look as if to say that wasn't his problem, once he was satisfied with the nurse he'd been talking to they walked toward Naru's room. There were met by their original contact a girl named Yuko Takahashi, who looked a lot like Mai, Kasai and the teacher Ubusuna-san.

Naru looked at Ubusuna with suspicion once she was inside. Kagome had been right all along. He was glad that someone else had a brain on his team, he knew that between Lin and Kagome the two of them often times threw ideas back and forth until they were satisfied with results… it was one of the reasons that Lin now had room to hold six or seven people in his office as compared to just the two of them. With the clutter cleared and most of the files, cases and information on a computer back up or put away Lin often times got off work much earlier.

"Yuko, Kasai-san did either of you hear about me being an Onmyou-ji?" Naru stared, looking over the occupants of the room.

"Hai, I did." Kasai replied,

"Iie, what is that?" Yuko asked curious.

"Kasai-san did you tell anyone about this?" Naru asked, looking over a magazine that a man named Miroku had dropped off for him almost as soon as he'd gotten there.

"Yes… I told Kei-sensei… why?"

Instead of answering, Naru continued to study the picture of the person who'd written the article and he could only say that Kagome had a lot of connections to be able to pull this off. "On this case, Mai's intuition has been close to perfect… have you heard of this?"

"I might of in passing why?" Kasai frowned, her pointer finger patting the top of her lip lightly.

"Have you mentioned this to anyone?" Naru replied, saving his place before opening another article that had been brought this one was a journal of paranormal research.

"I might have mentioned this to Kei-sensei." Kasai looked like she was about to crawl back into herself within the next several seconds if Naru didn't stop asking questions in that polite and bored way of his.

"This is all just for confirmation," Naru replied, ignoring Ubusuna-san's questions to ask his own, "And where did you graduate Ubusuna-san?"

"Oh, at a local college near my home town." Ubusuna smiled.

"I see, and you're from Fukushima prefecture correct?"

"Yes, I am." Ubusuna just continued to smile, as if there was nothing he could say that would bother her.

"Thank you for the confirmation… I think I can safely say that this case has been solved." Naru replied.

"Solved?" Kasai looked shocked and surprised then again even if you hadn't seen the girl it could be heard in her voice.

"Yes. A Zuso or more specifically an Enmi preformed by Hitogata, was used to cast curses upon certain members of the school. Which, means we need to remove the Hitogata, and convince the Jusa to stop."

"What is a Jusa?" Yuko asked quickly.

"It's the castor, or the person in control of the spell." Kagome spoke up quietly, so that the younger girl could follow along just a little bit better.

"Are you saying I'm the Jusa?" Kasai shouted now angry.

"Hush, Kasai… you don't have the ability and you're in a hospital." Kagome scolded, watching the girl deflate in surprise.

"What Kagome says is correct, the Jusa is Ubusuna-sensei." Naru replied, looking over the journal once more before staring calmly at the biology teacher who just continued to smile. "We've gathered everything that you created now I ask that you stop this, and never do it again."

"I'm not the Jusa." Ubusuna replied, an easy cool look on her face.

"Yes, you are… no one else has the ability." Naru replied, waving away her denial, it was obvious no one in the room believed her.

"I thought all the people who disagreed with Kasai's abilities were the ones who were attacked?" Yuko replied, looking at them as if confused.

"Yes, I thought so as well… so wouldn't Kasai be a more likely culprit?" Ubusuna grinned coldly.

"If she were trained… maybe." Takigawa spoke up this time.

Ubusuna looked affronted now, as if they had slapped her "What happened to Kasai was not my problem I only helped her out of sympathy."

"Lies." Naru continued, "It was your problem it made you angry, you're rather well known in the research and psychic field here in Japan." He paused showing the written journals and what was inside the Magazine. "Twenty years ago, Uri Geller made an appearance here in Japan… you were one of the girls caught cheating. And they slaughtered you in the press… just like they condemned Kasai at her school."

Ubusuna eventually let out a stream of information that surprised everyone, she'd been a child tricked by the media and used to spread a wide range of propaganda. She had felt more anger when Souta had scolded Kasai telling her why what she was doing was wrong the others could only watch with a mix of pity and disgust.

Eventually Ubusuna was admitted to a psychiatric ward, she needed both the mental and emotional support of a professional. After Ubusuna left Yuasa school, Kasai-san slowly began to experiment with her abilities, while several teachers and students refused to believe in the girl others would and enjoy watching her strange abilities.

It would be weeks later when the entire crew was gathered around Naru while he test Mai for supernatural powers. Everyone had been waiting for the results, when he announced them the laughter and jokes could be heard for weeks about how animalistic Mai was considering she only ran on instincts. At least until Kagome got tired of hearing it, and started telling them what animal's they reminded her of and would they please shut up she was sick of hearing it.

Naru while he wouldn't admit it was eternally grateful no one except John or on occasion Takigawa would come around to sit in his foray. When they hit the third week of no Ayako and no Masako he promptly thanked the woman causing her to flush up a storm, Lin had laughed in the background he and Souta were probably the only ones that knew exactly how embarrassed she was after the incident. The next case was one of the oddest and perhaps saddest SPR would see to date.


	3. Case: Lake Arimine Day 1

I don't own Ghost Hunt or Inu Yasha, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Fuyumi Ono.

**Sorry that this one is a bit short but it was the best place for me to cut it off, on another note I'm looking for a Beta. If any on is interested please send me a PM or email.**

**I'd like to see if any of you can figure out what/who is messing with the town!**

Chapter 3

Kagome sighed, as she settled down on the couch in the main office. Just a few months before she'd come looking for a job, now she was a full time member of SPR. Generally, when they finished early Kagome found working at the shrine to be a bit of a relief. Because of the Naru's need to pay his workers well, she felt a huge relief as the bill collectors' weren't riding her coat tails any longer.

"Mai-chan, could you get some tea please?" The raven haired woman asked, reading over the files before her. It was a case just last week which involved a small cursed item that was easily purified; it had been a bit dangerous. The item in question was going into a museum and the curator was terrified to use the item considering it had caused a fire in the last three places it had been housed. The curator in question had simply brought the item in, and between herself and Lin they had discovered it was yet another Chinese curse. Kagome had enjoyed looking for the back ground about the hair pin, and it had been a dosy. It had come from the Nara period, and it had belonged to a high ranking courtesan . When the woman's lover was killed during war the woman cursed the opposing Daimyo's wife. The wife a woman by the name of Takigawa Yukio, burned to death several days after the courtesan committed suicide.

Mai nodded, before another yell from an office farther back in the building range forward demanding more tea at the same time. It was all the small red hued girl could do not to scream, she hated the way Naru just yelled at her without a thought otherwise. Not only that but Souta wasn't there either, he was tending the shrine while Kagome worked at SPR. This split of duties happened to be good for the two of them, and Kagome did seem rather happy to be working with them in the paranormal world.

As Mai walked away grumbling under her breath Kagome could only look up when two young adults walked in looking about with worried expressions on their faces. One was a male, the other female, Kagome wouldn't be surprised if the two of them were related both had light brown hair just shades different in color. The woman's eyes were a light gray while the man had soft brown eyes, both were dressed in a light but warm casual clothing.

"Can I help you?" Kagome asked, moving to stand they didn't have an appointment. Of that the raven haired woman was sure considering that she was generally the one that took phone calls, and made appointments. On occasion they had walk in customer's like the principle of Yuasa High School. The two new comers shared glances as if to communicate silently, they seemed too finally agree on a course of action.

"My name is Namimaki Haruhi and this is my brother Hatsuharu. We're from a small village Okamori, near Lake Arimine. Strange…strange things have been happening in our town for a very long time, but it seemed to have gotten worse recently. Much worse…" The young woman glanced at her brother, both seemed to be very shaken by the happenings around their home town.

"Please wait for a moment," Kagome nodded before standing and walking toward the door that Naru hide behind. Knocking lightly, she only opened the door was a snarky reply told her to come in. Sighing and rolling her eyes at the younger man, the raven eyes woman opened the door before slipping her head and shoulders inside.

"There are two siblings here…they seem to have come a long way, they would like to speak with you about taking a case I would presume." Kagome eyed the younger male. For once Naru looked frustrated, and he was once again looking over a map of Japan and it worried her.

"Very well, ask Lin to meet us in the foyer." Naru dismissed the older with a wave of the hand before gathering himself to meet these new "clients."

Kagome huffed, before closing the door and rolling her eyes. Sometimes the younger boy was a pretentious ass; there simply wasn't any other way about it. Naru looked down on people that he considered below his own intelligence level, as such he often come off a snotty or condescending.

"Mai you can simply put the tea in the foyer, and ask our guests if they would like something?" Kagome waved at the girl in the hall, trying not to laugh at the twitching eyebrow. Shaking her head at the young girl, the raven haired woman left the little hall before turning slightly to the right and opening Lin's door.

Dark eyes looked up toward the door as it opened out ward; it was odd for Lin to have a semi neat office. It would never be clean for the simple fact that Naru seemed bound and determined to create his own encyclopedia of the paranormal activity that occurred in Japan. At Kagome's soft murmurs the Chinese man could only nod before standing, arranging his laptop he also grabbed the cup of coffee that he'd been sipping for the last few minutes.

After everyone was settled the Namimaki's rested on one couch, Lin and Kagome sat on another while Mai and Naru took their places on the two cushioned chairs at the end of the couches. The two clients both looked nervous and worried as if what had been happening recently had become far too much for them to take. The brown haired siblings looked at one another, they really didn't know what to expect when they arrived. SPR had started making a name for itself, but neither of them had expected it to be in such a posh building. In fact this seemed more like an executive office, it was odd for the two of them to be in such an upscale building.

"Can you tell me of the oddities that had been occurring?" Naru spoke, his voice low and with a caution that always came with the paranormal. Many times people that came to the office were simply paranoid, and there wasn't a spirit or anything of the sort. But this he wasn't sure what this was, he wasn't like the spiritualists in his group he couldn't tell by sense alone that something different about a case such as this.

Hatsuharu sighed, before glancing at his sister's stricken face. He had initially been against trying to get outside help but now there really was no other choice. "It supposedly started about fifty years ago, but many of the people of our village believe that it has been happening for a much longer time. We live a bit near the bottom of the mountains, perhaps a mile or so from the lake. People have been going missing in our area for as far back as records show, sometimes as far back as three hundred years. Back then only one person disappeared every few years, as time progressed people began to disappear at a quicker rate. When I was born two people had gone missing, and it's not just our village that loses people. There are several small villages in the area; they too lose people on a regular basis. At least now anyway…" The light brown haired man seemed to take a pause worry running across his face, there were so many strange things happening around their home now. It wasn't just people being spirited away, and it wasn't that uncommon for people to go missing in the remote area that they lived in. But some of the other things that were happening just didn't seem right.

Haruhi sighed, "It wouldn't be so worrisome if we didn't continue to see the people after they had disappeared."

"Continued to see them?" Kagome frowned, that didn't make any sense at all how would you continue to see people after they had disappeared?

The light haired woman nodded, her gray eyes flashing with fear "I would call them specters, but they seem more like illusions then ghosts. There are a lot of noises that aren't normal in many of the houses."

"It's not secluded to one home?" Naru spoke up quickly, that was an oddity in and of itself. The thought of illusions didn't make much sense either, but in some cases ghosts did take a humanoid form when trapped on earth.

Bother Namimaki siblings shook their heads no, before Haruhi continued, "No, almost all the homes are affected by the odd noises. All the people of the village are able to see the illusions as well, there have also been recordings of possession and other odds and ends, including mysterious deaths. The problem is that several people have gone missing from each village this year and it's extremely out of the ordinary. We just…we just don't know what to do." The frustration in the young woman's voice was easy to hear, as well as they worry. It seemed as though Naru and his company were their last resort.

Naru seemed to think about the idea for a long while before agreeing, "We will need several rooms for setting up and sleeping."

The relief the siblings felt was evident on each of their young faces, deals were made and times were set. It would be a week before the group of them could come together, and the siblings made no complaints, it had been a long time since anyone had listened to them or their people and tried to help them. Soft voices continued to murmur as more plans were made between the siblings and the group of SPR, before the day ended and they went separate ways.

O o O o O o O

It was Friday, and it was such an odd work day for Kagome Higurashi. The young Priestess had called in a favor from another Shrine Head and someone was watching the Shrine, while she and her younger brother went to help the SPR crew with this newest assignment. The raven haired woman could honestly say that she had no idea what could be causing some of these problems and it was odd that some of these issues were linked together in awkward tangents.

It was an early morning and the blue eyed woman wasn't so eager to take the long, long trip that awaited her. The mountainous area that they were headed to hadn't always had the large manmade lake that was settled in the downward slopes of its hills. Souta was settled beside her as they waited on the side walk outside the shrine, the two of them were packed for several days. One of the reasons they were packed up was that they would be the first to go and they would be riding with Lin, Mai, Naru and John in the van. The others would be coming later in the day, normally they would leave from SPR, but the shrine was on the Highway out and they had offered to pick the siblings up.

As it was they hadn't needed to wait long as the large dark van rolled up the shrine just minutes past seven, it took very little time to throw the two medium sized duffle bags in the back along with the other bags of clothing. Most of the things packed away were monitors, and other assorted electronics. Needless to say everything in this particular van was well insured. Mai and John had already settled in the back seat, while Naru and Lin were settled in the front. Once everyone was loaded up Kagome found herself settled between Naru and Lin, while Souta was tucked into the back behind the driver's seat while Mai found herself between the two boys.

A quiet seemed to settle over the van as several of its occupants began dozing off for the extremely long drive. It was just past two when the van arrived at its destination, they would be staying in the home of the people who had hired them. Apparently the Namimaki siblings ran a type of bed and breakfast hotel that was very popular because it was so close to the National Forest that surrounded Lake Arimine. The house was rather large but not nearly as large as the old home that they had passed coming into the town.

Eventually the girls were settled into one bedroom, while the boys were split into two different rooms, one including John and Souta, the other containing Lin and Naru. After the six of them had finished putting their things away, they got to work unloading the van of the electronics. Haruhi and Hatsuharu helped with unloading all the while explaining more things that had happened within the week that they had returned home. Some of the people in the surrounding area were acting strangely very, very strangely in fact. Not only that but one of the shrine workers had recently gone missing as well, this would be the fourth person who had disappeared during the year. The people of Okamori were becoming very terrified of what was happening to their town, tension was riding high and they were all scared of what was coming.

Naru quickly took charge sending them out on individual missions, Mai and Souta were sent to set up equipment outside the Namimaki's home while Kagome and John were sent to speak with the citizens of the small down. Out of the lot of them John and Kagome had the best personalities and influence when dealing with people. Mai was too excitable, and Souta…was just a bit crude.

As the other's got to work John and Kagome found themselves canvasing the area, what they saw was rather disturbing. Uneasiness seemed to settle over the two as they walked through the small town, where it might had been a bright spot of tourism it now seemed to had a shadow cast across the streets. Out of the last three people who they had talked to many of them encouraged the lot of them to get out of the town.

"John this doesn't seem to be getting us any were. It's almost as if they believe that their god is punishing them." Kagome frowned, looking over the inhabitants. The town wasn't as small as it was lead to be there was probably at least a rough thousand people living in the area. While it wasn't extremely large, it was big enough to have a healthy commerce and happy citizens, the homes and the area itself was beautiful.

"I agree…it seems rather odd. I've never seen people acting like this before, have you?" John asked, eyeing the blue eyed woman with a curious expression.

The raven haired woman could only shake her head no, "There aren't too many people left on this street…I guess we should finish it and then head back to base. "

At John's nod they continued, eventually they come to a medium sized home it had probably been home to a large family. It was a little run down but it still had a charming mix of western and eastern architecture. The gardens were still taken care of if not a little run down, eventually the two found themselves on the front step knocking lightly. An elderly woman answered the door, old brown eyes were circled by wrinkles and thick shortly cropped gray hair.

"Can I help you?" A firm voice questioned, neither of them could guess her age and could only think that she seemed very timeless in her comfortable home.

"Ah, yes ma'am. We have questions about the abnormalities that had occurred recently." John started, he wasn't entirely sure how to start this line of questioning. When the expression on her face changed to a much harder one, both young adults felt rather startled. The woman had and expression of weariness on her ancient features, as if afraid of speaking of what was happening in the area, before it changed again to a stubborn resolve. The two SPR members were waved in before the door was quickly secured.

"Come sit down, I'll bring in some tea." The woman waved them toward the living room before sounds of busy movement could be heard in the kitchen. The sounds slowly faded away, before footsteps came their way, both John and Kagome had settled on the faded couches of a very cozy living room.

"Now…I have some questions for you as well." The elderly woman looked them over, but there was a worry in her eyes. Not for herself but for them, as if she knew that the two of them were in danger just being in the village itself.

The two blue eyed SPR members glanced at one another in worry, before Kagome nodded to the questioning. The Higurashi woman was very curious about what the elderly woman could possibly want from them.

"Why have you come? And who invited you here?" Brown eyes looked over them with worry.

"A pair of siblings asked us to come investigate the oddities that occurred around the area." Kagome frowned, she wasn't sure that talking to this woman was the best idea.

A deep sigh startled both John and Kagome, "They haven't told you much about the area have they? The two of you are spiritualists of that I'm sure. You aren't the first ones who have tried to solve the mystery of this mountain, most of the ones that come with power are the first to disappear."

"Do the people taken have anything in common besides power?" John asked, a slightly anxious expression running across his face.

"No not truly. But most shrine maidens, priests and monks have been spirited away, they work for perhaps a year or two before vanishing! Almost into thin air, my daughter showed signs of strange ability…she could move things just thinking about them she disappeared as well. When my sons began to show such talent I sent them away, I was terrified that they would be taken as well." The elderly woman paused, trying to remember more it had been several years since her sons had left home and now they lived all across Japan. She visited them on a regular basis to see her grandchildren but the elderly woman never dared invite them to return home, the gray haired woman was too terrified that they would be taken as well.

"When and how did you lose your daughter?" Kagome asked a saddened expression on her face. The young woman wasn't trying to imply that losing a child was acceptable; it was pain filled and created an empty spot in ones chest. She could only imagine what kind of pain, and from the sounds of it this was her only daughter.

"It was nearly thirty-five years ago, the lot of us had recently returned home. My husband and I had grown up here in this town, before the dame was created. Back then if someone went missing no one really thought much about it as they had probably wondered of into the wooded area and gotten lost. My husband and I along with our children decided that a nice walk would be a nice breather. We turned our backs for a few moments and she was gone…we looked everywhere and the people of the village helped us look…but there was no luck. My little Aiko disappeared without a trace, weeks later my husband and I thought that we were being haunted our daughter seemed to appear over and over again as if crying begging to be free. It was then that we gave up, we knew our daughter was dead." The pained ache that fluttered across that wizened old face hurt both of the youngsters looking on, they both felt guilty about asking but this didn't bring them any closer than it did before.

"I'm so sorry ma'am" Kagome felt guilty, it was obvious that this was a sore that hadn't healed for the elderly woman. But it did concern her that whatever it was and Kagome was positive that it wasn't a spirit, it was targeting people that had been born with natural energy. People like herself, and Mai and well plainly put their whole crew.

"It's fine dear. It's something I've had to deal with for close to thirty years. I'm known as Aburame Chieko. If you need someone to answer more questions I'm willing, many of the people of this town will not speak of what happens they believe that the more it is spoken about the more likely people are to go missing." The elderly woman eyed both of them with what Kagome could recognize as concern, the woman was rather worried about both of them. "I would also suggest staying in after dark, it's much safer."

Both of the young adult bowed before leaving both of them were reeling from what they had learned and were concerned as to what it could mean for the lot of them that were currently in the small town. It was starting to darken and the two SPR members couldn't help but think about what the Aburame woman had to say, that it was safer inside at night. What was happening at night?

Coming back to the Namimaki residence both spiritualist felt a sense of relief once they entered through the door way, they could hear light conversation in one of the rooms that held all the monitors and Lin. When the two of them arrived they were surprised to see that Takigawa and the two other girls hadn't arrived yet. It seemed that something had occurred earlier in the day and Masako hadn't been able to come, so the monk had been asked to wait a day to drive up with the well known medium.

"What have you found out?" Naru finally asked looking at the two that held both John and Kagome. Both of his members looked exhausted and he could only imagine how hard it probably was for them to get information. The two of them shared a worried glance before recounting everything that they had been told by the older woman, and their concern of the not so truthfulness of their clients.

"I'm concerned that they haven't told use anything about people like us disappearing, that it something that we should have known." Kagome muttered looking over the group of them, Souta was looking as concerned as she felt while Lin was keeping his thoughts to himself.

"There isn't much to be done for it tonight, tomorrow we'll have a long conversation with our host. For tonight everyone be on guard," Naru replied, he was used to clients lying and in cases like this he fully intended to milk the Namimaki's for everything they were worth. "As an extra precaution can you create seals or protective talisman?"

Kagome nodded, "I can I'm gone to make both, but I'll be pretty much useless for a few hours afterward."

"John, please bless the house while it's still light enough not to be considered dark." Naru could see the young priest nod, and Lin's shiki were already starting to make patrols around the house. This was really the best they could do until morning, this would have to be their safe haven until then.

The lot of them nodded, Souta went to help his sister while the rest of them began to prefer for the night. None of them realized exactly how bad it would be, but they would soon discover that this place was a new form of hell.


	4. Case: Lake Arimine Day 2

I don't own Inu Yasha, or Ghost Hunt. This was not written with the intention of the making money, this was made for the pleasure of sharing.

Don't yell kay? I'm mildly thinking about putting Souta with Yasaharu or Naru…dunno which…I just have a firm belief that love is love, that the body doesn't matter and we have no right to comment on others hearts. (I was totally writing this to Nickelback, which might be why I was feeling a bit sappy.)

**This has not been beta-ed, feel free to point out issues but if you are not specific I'm not going to hunt for them. I do my best to make corrections by re-reading what I have written hopefully I've caught some if not most of my mistakes. If any one feels up to being a beta, I have MANY chapters you can fix up for me.**

**On another note I have a question for everyone who's reading, what do you prefer in a chapter? Dialogue, action, description? What makes a story come alive for you?**

Chapter 4

Kagome could only sigh, she hated imbuing small pieces of paper with power to create a shield. Paper was the easiest medium that a spirit could mess with, stone or wood was better to work with as those two mediums were harder to meddle with than paper and ink. Thankfully Souta was helping her in the only ways that he could, writing the sutra's out before jamming them full of holy energy.

It was now past dark and everyone had paper charms or talismans for protection, while John had managed to perform the exorcism around the house there was something that seemed to cling to the air and was waiting to swallow them whole. Souta seemed to be more jumpy than normal and Kagome could readily admit that something about this entire affair was off. Their hosts seem to jump and skitter at every little sound, and it was obvious that they were on their last nerve.

Several mics as well as video feeds had been set up most of them would be hitting the bed for a long nights sleep. For once Kagome would be sleeping, at the moment Lin and John would be staying up for the night, it was undecided as to who would be staying up the next night. Kagome just sighed, Mai was already in bed she'd gotten into another argument with Naru and the older woman was beginning to wonder what the English man actually knew about his employees.

Naru in some ways was painfully ignorant of society's expectations, but that might be a good thing. If he understood he world better it would just give him ammunition to verbally attack those he considered to be of an inferior class. Kagome simply sighed, before getting up there was just something about the night that wasn't allowing her to sleep. Slipping into a large pair or war sweat pants as well as a thick t-shirt, Kagome found herself making way to the base connection. John blinked at her before a small smile lit across his face, and he returned to the monitors before him.

"Ah, Kagome-san, what brings you here?" John smiled softly, at the Japanese woman. Blue eyes studied the woman, she looked tired but she also seemed very awake as if something was bothering her.

"I just couldn't sleep I suppose. Sometimes it happens and I can't sleep a wink, something about this place is making me paranoid." Kagome replied, before slipping into one of the seat in front of the monitors. Opening the secondary laptop, Kagome found herself working through one of the cases that she'd brought with her. This was for her own personal files and something that had slowly being categorized and helped her work out payment for money owed herself and the shrine. Between the extra income from working with the Shibuya company, the selling of charms and money owed for the services that hadn't been paid during her individual work, the shrine was slowly coming back into the black and for that she was thankful. The fact that she was working with a British and Chinese man had many of the patrons in her area speculating and spreading rumors. It was embarrassing for her, and if she didn't have the support of others in Tokyo Kagome wasn't certain what she would do.

A quiet seemed to settle over the three of them, Kagome happily working on filing away her own case work while John and Lin looked over what was happening on screen. The quiet seemed to fill the room, that was when things began to get a bit strange. Shadows began to appear on the on the screen and a strange tapping surrounded them. The room that the equipment was in was heavily warded with both sutra and several blessings that John had made, nothing should have been able to get inside. The strange scratching sounds seemed to come from outside the house as if they couldn't get in and seemed to come from the roof and sides of the building

The quiet between the three of them seemed to amplify the sound of whatever was happening, none of them made a move to leave the room. Eventually the rat-tat-tat tapping sound stopped only to be followed by soft whispery hisses and then the world seemed to open up, ghostly illusions rose up inside and outside the house. Some of them were young, some were rather old all of them looked like they were in perfect health like they had on the last day of their death.

Not one of them really knew what to do or say, this wasn't a phenomenon that was caused by another spirit whatever these things were. "These aren't spirits." Kagome finally spoke watching as a woman that looked very similar to their host wondered the room cleaning, she seemed to be humming but there wasn't any noise and it was strange at the way the woman wavered and shudders. The image of the illusion wasn't able to hold up, instead it flickered much like a when ones television was on the blitz.

An hour passed Kagome followed the strange illusion around the house, while Lin copied information down from the monitors and John kept up a steady chant. Over that hour, they would again hear the rat-tat-tat across the roof of the house almost as if whatever it was seemed to be following the movement of Kagome about the house. The Higurashi woman had asked over the headset they had supplied her, if he or John were hearing the strange tapping sound, and the Chinese man replied with a negative.

By the time that morning came the three of them were completely overwhelmed at all the information they had gathered, so when the rest of their group walked in that morning they were all a bit surprised by the extremely tired expressions they were met with. All three of them knew one thing, the three of them would be sleeping very well or be so paranoid that none of them would sleep on this trip unless it was day light.

"What in the world happened last night?" Mai asked, a concerned look on her face as if this wasn't something that she had expected. The three of them looked ready to collapse onto any nearby surface, Kagome and John had at least been able to sleep on the drive up. Lin had driven the entire time, only to take the first night shift as well.

Naru didn't have to say anything the look on his face stated that they had better report in short order, the three of them could only glance between them. It had been such an odd experience. None of them could say anything for a few moments, they were all still ill at ease from the night before.

"It started a little after nine, I had gotten up because I couldn't sleep. I came and sat with John and Lin, a short time after that we began to hear an odd noise on the roof and against the walls and window. Eventually it petered off, to be followed by the odd illusion that the Namimakis' spoke about. The illusion wasn't complete though, it flickered constantly as if it couldn't hold its connection, there was also no noise. I couldn't feel any spirits, but I do believe that there are several spirits in this area. I just don't think that they come to the houses…. Either way I followed the illusion to see what they were doing and it seems to mimic what the person might had been doing while they were alive. While I was going from room to room following the illusion, the tapping began…it followed me through the roof from room to room." Kagome shivered and easily welcomed the hug Souta engulfed her with. Something about that following tapping sent terror down her spine, there was an ominous air in this town.

"Whatever it is it cannot come in, but it wanted to get our attention. It tapped on the windows for a long time before the illusions began to occur. I think it wants us to come outside, or at least to a place that is easily assessable." John paused, he didn't know what else to say.

"I want the three of you to sleep. Mai, Souta and I can handle anything that comes up, don't argue with me Lin. The three of you will be useless to us if you can't function, the three of us will stay in the house and work through the papers and bits of information that was dug up yesterday at the library. We will also be having another talk with the Namimakis'," Naru glared at all three of them as if daring them to argue. It was bright in the morning and he wasn't terribly worried about being attacked, hopefully the monk and Masako would be there in the morning.

John and she shared soft laughter as the protest died on Lin's lips. Once the nightshifters left, Mai and Souta began to snicker it couldn't be helped. Lin's expression when Naru out maneuvered him was priceless. Eventually the two of them got over their amusement, Souta tuned the two of them relatively quickly by pulling out a set of head phones and literally diving into the work.

Naru frowned, he really didn't understand all the oddities that built up to create one Higurashi Souta, the boy was younger than him but seemed to be relatively mature save for his age. Souta on the other side of the spectrum was a total potty mouth, and wasn't willing to hold anything back when he got something into his head. He was a hard worker and didn't allow himself to get distracted like some young girls…. Shaking the thought from his head, he returned to the information in front of him, the information was astounding in just the large amounts of it.

Mai looking on in utter surprise as the boys seemed to set about ignoring her, Souta seemed to really be into this sort of thing. It was something she expected from Naru, but not from someone she'd known for most of her middle school life. It was hard seeing Souta as this relatively mature person, but for all his posturing Souta still had his very defensive swearing that was something that had developed after his mother and grandfather were killed.

Sighing, Mai simply shook her head before heading to the kitchen everyone who worked in SPR happened to be Tea addicts except perhaps Lin and that was because he was a coffee addict. "Oh! Haruhi-san, you know Naru wants to talk to you and Hatsuharu…"

The woman studied the teenage girl before her with something of a frown, she didn't like that they had brought so many young people with them. Haruhi sighed, "I can speak with him later this afternoon after work."

Mai wanted to comment but didn't, there wasn't any work to be done. No one was staying at the inn besides themselves because it had become known that you might go missing on your vacation if you decided to stay in this particular town, and as many Japanese put off the idea of "legends and fairy tales" not one of them actually wanted to take the chance to meet such beings. Nodding to the woman, Mai simply watched the older woman go before returning to what she'd started earlier, the water boiled allowing the tea to steep.

It took a good fifteen minutes before she finished the tea, pouring it into one of the many pitchers that were available. Mai grabbed several cups before having something of a balancing act and taking the things back to the room they were being allowed to use. When the door to the room opened, Mai could only blink to find Hatsuharu looking down at her with something of a curious expression on his face. This was quickly followed by the older man taking the serving tray in her hands and placing it on the table.

"Haruhi didn't help you with that?" The older man asked a disapproving frown on the man's face. For some reason Haruhi had begun to act very strangely, she would act out and in some cases be very rude to the people of the village and himself.

Mai simply shook her head, "She pretty much took off after I went into the kitchen. I told her that Naru wanted to speak with her, and she said that there were other things that needed to be done."

Hatsuharu could only frown, before sighing "I'll try to answer whatever questions he might have then."

Mai sighed, before rolling her eyes at the two boys they were so absorbed in what they were doing that they didn't seem to be hearing anything that was said around them. Normally, at least Naru was more alert but this time it seemed he was completely focused on what he was doing that he didn't even seem to realize that he was out of tea. Waving at their host, the cinnamon haired girl could only watch in amusement as Hatsuharu placed the tea on one of the work tables then replaced the two empty tea cups with new ones.

Naru finally seemed to waken from the information induced stupor he'd managed to get into. Those steady blue eyes seemed to bore into the older man, as if trying to discover his every secret "I see. Please take a set."

Hatsuharu glanced at Mai, and the cinnamon haired girl rolled her eyes before sitting rather ungracefully into one of the chairs. The other boy had looked up and taken his ear phones off, he happened to be looking at him with a very curious expression on his face. The three of them were now all looking at Naru with varying looks of curiosity.

Dark blue eyes rolled in slight annoyance, "Why weren't we informed that the majority of the people that go missing are those who are….spiritually gifted?"

Hatsuharu grimaced, "I'm not really sure. Haruhi was the one who decided on this particular method of getting help, I thought that we should have worked it out on our own. If it had been left in my hands you would have been told something."

Naru's eyes seemed to sharpen, to narrow and focus on the man before him. Hatsuharu seemed extremely uncomfortable with holding onto information that could help them. "What do you want to tell us that your sister wants to keep quiet?"

"The only reason Haruhi has been acting this way, and has gone so far is because she's angry. She wants some sort of closure, something to help. Both our parents had small amounts of strange abilities, my father always knew who was calling. My mother always knew what the weather was going to be like and they were always aware of who was coming to the inn before they arrived. It always came in small spurts, and they seemed to go dormant about the same time that people went missing. Finally they went missing to, Haruhi just can't seem to get passed it." Hatsuharu was looking at them a sharp look on his face. His fingers where laced while a sharp chin seemed to rest on the tied fingers. The was a look of worry and compassion on the older man's face seemed to cause a quit to roll over them.

"I see." Naru paused, he seemed to be trying to absorb the information before trying to sort out the ideas that came with it. Souta on the other had had a very heavy frown on his face, this was just one of those things that didn't really make sense to him, withholding information like that often times caused them to take a much longer time to figure out what was happening.

As the silence passed, a generalized knocking on the door caught the attention of those in the small room surrounded by electronics. Hatsuharu bowed slightly, before standing and hurrying to the door. The three teenagers could hear the older man murmuring softly, before the whine of the door followed by the click of being shut and footsteps coming their way indicated the rest of them had arrived.

"Heey!" Takigawa grinned at them, even though he was carrying several bags most of which were obviously not his. Masako followed behind him in a sedate pace, a long Kimono sleeve covering the lower portion of her mouth as if to keep from being sick. The young girl was looking rather sick at what was going on around her, but she was also looking very determined.

"What do you see, Hara-san?" Naru finally asked, studying the delicately raised teenager. Hara Masako had been raised in a very gentle setting and because of it many of the teens considered her to be naïve and rather ignorant of the normal society at large and in all honesty they would more than likely right. The snotty attitude that she sometimes exuded did nothing to endear the young girl to the rest of the team, but Naru would be the first to admit that she was the best in her field. At least here in Japan that was, there were several in America and the European area's like England or France that were just as good that didn't have such an attitude problem.

"There are several spirits here. They don't mind coming near me, but none of them are extremely angry either. I don't understand. None of them are angry they are not causing the things that have been occurring here," Masako looked so confused and just a bit more than a little lost with the amount of souls that were simply floating around the town. She had noticed them along the road as they entered and had seen several on the mountain road within a mile around the town.

"Are you saying the spirits aren't causing all these weird things to happen?" Mai asked, her jaw seemed to drop just a bit in disbelief. There were so many different reports and it wasn't just in Okamori it seemed to be in little towns or villages all over the mountain area. It just seemed odd for them to all gather there for no reason.

Masako managed to refrain from rolling her eyes at the other teenager, "Something about their death is keeping them from moving on. Most of them would accept a proper exorcism and would simply go onto the correct plane of existence, others are angry but don't know how to fix what they considered to be wrong."

"Either way the best thing to do in this case is find out what is making all these ghost and then waiting to see how many of the spirits remain behind. Sometime in cases like this once things are resolved, the spirits move on naturally unless they become earth bound and then they need a little help." Souta finished, looking at the lot of them.

"Hey, were are John, Lin and Kagome?" The monk finally asked, he'd found a place to put the luggage and he was had no intention of moving it after bringing it into the house. He wasn't Masako's maid and the young medium needed to learn to bring smaller amounts of things because no one else would be willing to carry her things.

"Asleep." Naru stated simply before turning back to work on what he'd been focusing on. This was one of those cases that didn't really make any sense to him, there was no reason to go missing nor was there any reason to have this sort of thing happen. The cases were all the same, for a day or two the person in question would act a bit off before simply disappearing into the wilderness. This was the case within the last ten years, before that people would simply walk into the wooded area and never return. On occasion a set of mingled bones would be found, most of them would be gnawed on by the carnivorous or scavenging animals but other than that nothing was really gave a hint as to what was causing them to disappear. It couldn't be a person, the first time someone was pronounced missing had been in the early twenties. A human would be dead or so decrepit he or she wouldn't be able to handle the stronger young members of their species.

"So we are dealing with some sort of crazy spirit or other," Souta replied, a frown covered his face. This didn't really sound like a spirit at all, many people didn't believe in demon's or other things that went bump in the night. He'd grown up with his family learning about the stories and they weren't very clear, it had been years sense a low level demon had come into Tokyo. Never mind the fact that Tai Youkai generally kept the population under control even they could be killed by guns.

"What do you mean other?" Mai asked, staring at Souta as if he had lost his mind. She'd never heard of something other than what they dealt with on most cases. Usually it involved a spirit doing something that they wanted or in some cases like the one where she met Naru it was caused by a human. Though some of the people didn't appreciate the confirmation that it wasn't a spirit haunting them, others had been and it would eventually come out that so and so down the street got a slap on the wrist for slapping their neighbors or in a lot of trouble for vandalism.

"Well for one, there are living spirit and then there are dead spirits. Hara sees the dead ones and more than likely the living ones, living spirits are usually spiritually blessed themes of nature that have gained a sort of consciousness. These beings are not blessed by human's but spirits that are higher than that of a human, we call them Kamis' but it's a mix up to those outside of Japan if they are simply spirits or gods." Souta paused slightly amused at the hidden disbelieving look he was getting from Naru and one of consideration from Mai. Takigawa was nodding, while Masako was looking at him with something akin to curiosity.

"I've never seen or spoken to a living spirit, Higurashi-san. Most of the trees of blessed places in the areas of Japan I've been to are dead. They rarely come out to speak to one such as I, anyway." Masako replied, slightly embarrassed. Living spirits were rare, and it took a great deal of ability to lure them outside their places of living. Certain spirits didn't live long just months or a few years, while others could last several millenniums like some camphor trees.

"Living spirits would be like Lin's Shiki, Naru." Souta replied off hand, and saw the look close off with a simple nod. That was about all the concession he would get out of Naru, the older boy probably didn't believe in holy spirits or gods. Though that wasn't surprising many people had lost faith in the world around them, so why would they believe in omnipotent beings that looked down on them ready to smite people?

"So what are you thinking Souta?" The golden haired monk was looking at him with a curious expression.

The younger Higurashi simply shook his head, "I don't know enough to help. Kagome should wake up in an hour or to. They stayed up all night, something happened last night that kept all three of them up."

After that they returned to going through papers while Takigawa walked with Masako through the village, it was decided they would have to see if Masako could get more details from the certain spirits. Some of them didn't come near her, on the other hand many floated around the girl with something akin to morbid curiosity. Not many of them were willing to speak with her about what happened. The ones that did told a disturbing tale, that didn't sound anything like a living or dead spirit at all. It came to weight so heavily on her mind that she was almost clinging to her escort by the time they headed back toward the small inn.

O o O o O o O

Kagome yawned loudly, looking over at the clock to her left she could only frown it was roughly twelve in the afternoon. Her sleep schedule when they returned to Tokyo was going to be shot to help, even with the several hours of rest under her belt it didn't make her feel much better. Though forcing herself to get up even when she was tired would ensure she got some sleep during the night. The noise outside seemed to be getting louder from yelling which was then followed by the twinkling sound of breaking china or something perhaps made of glass.

Stretching out, Kagome surveyed the room that she'd slept in. It was relatively calming with simply light blue walls and a soft very light brown comforter that reminded the Higurashi woman of a spa like atmosphere. In all honesty it would take the people of this village years to overcome whatever it was that happened to be causing so much trouble. Standing the dark haired woman quickly dressed before making her way back out toward base. She had no idea why there had been close to four bags of clothing in the room she shared with Mai but in a good frame of mind she ignored it.

Kagome didn't expect to find Haruhi yelling in a very ugly manner at her brother as the blue eyed woman could only frown before deciding it wasn't any of her business and made her way down to the main floor. What she didn't expect was the massive amounts of paper that seemed to be covering everything. Souta and Naru were quietly chatting while Masako was sitting in a corner watching the lot of them quietly. Mai seemed to be dozing off, Monk on the other hand was looking over the monitors and making notes every once in a while.

"What in the world has happened since we went to sleep? Why is Haruhi yelling like that?" Kagome could honestly say that she was confused about what was happening. Haruhi's demeanor didn't seem like the person that had greeted them in the office, and even though she didn't know the woman very well something about what was happening seemed to rub her the wrong way

Souta simply shook his head, "It's weird. Hatsuharu seems to be the most responsive. Haruhi on the other end of it seems like she's trying to get us out of the house. Masako said she wasn't possessed though so I really don't know what has happened."

Masako paused before repeated what she had found, buy this point both John and Lin were behind Kagome and the dark haired woman moved allowing the two of them in to listen to the rest of the findings.

"Did anyone actually get on the roof, or check around the building?" Kagome asked, she couldn't help but ask. The strange sounds from the night before sounded more like a physical thing than something spiritual being. It seemed odd that there was such a difference but Kagome believed that there was, it didn't sound like a hollow echo that usually came with spirits.

"No. Mai, could you go get Hatsuharu I have another question for him." Naru frowned. There was something that was digging at the back of his mind, instead of speaking his mind the young man waited as the younger girl disappeared out of the room. What none of them suspected was the loud masculine cry for help followed by several thumps and the shattering of something which caused the lot of them to rush toward the door.

Mai was lying across the stairwell with several bumps on her body, Hatsuharu was holding the small girl up with a look of horror on his face. There was a darkening bruise on his cheek as well as several cuts all along both his and Mai's arms. It was obvious from the way Haruhi was standing over them with a blank expression on her face that something was very wrong. Kagome moved up the stairs toward the girl and wasn't surprised when the Namimaki female began to move away, what the Higurashi woman didn't expect was to see the small sliver of thread-like silver that seemed to be attached to the woman's neck.

The others looked up with surprise, Lin and Naru were high enough to watch in surprise as a bright glow seemed to cover Kagome's finger tips. When Kagome's hand finally connected with Haruhi, the woman began to scream like nobody's business, and just as quickly the dark haired woman began to pinch something on the back of the woman's neck. The screaming stopped rather abruptly, within minutes the brown haired woman went limp forcing Kagome to catch her with part of her body and one arm as she continued to pinch whatever it was in her hand.

Lin moved two help the woman gathering the taller woman into his arms, before with a simply gesture everything changed. Eventually things once more calmed down, Haruhi and Mai were put to bed. Kagome had quickly moved to her room to remove something from a bag before coming back downstairs to meet with the others. When she returned they were all waiting with something to abated breath. Just what was it that Kagome had managed to get off of Haruhi? How was it going to help them with everything that was happening in this town?


End file.
